


The Woman Who Fell To Earth and The Daemon That Followed Shortly After

by Aesthetic_Clouds



Series: Doctor Who but With Daemons [2]
Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Daemons, Daemons, Episode AU: S11E01 The Woman Who Fell To Earth, Episode: s11e01 The Woman Who Fell to Earth, F/F, I just really love daemon aus, Minor Character Death, Pre-Relationship, Yaz has a crush on the Doctor, it's 11x01 but with daemons, this took me four days
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-01
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-13 18:01:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,077
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29780025
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aesthetic_Clouds/pseuds/Aesthetic_Clouds
Summary: Yasmin Khan had always wanted more out of life than it had given her - perhaps that was why her daemon had settled in the form that he had - but then one night an alien fell to Earth, and she and her daemon got the adventure they had been dreaming of.AKA: This is literally a rewrite of 11x01, but if the characters had daemons. I would recommend reading the first two chapters of the first book in this series as it explains all the characters daemons - but its not necessary.
Relationships: Grace O'Brien/Graham O'Brien, Thirteenth Doctor/Yasmin Khan
Series: Doctor Who but With Daemons [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2186982
Kudos: 11





	The Woman Who Fell To Earth and The Daemon That Followed Shortly After

**Author's Note:**

> First things first, I haven't completely SPAG checked this so there's bound to be mistakes - but I'm not touching this thing again for a while. Also, obvious copyright disclaimer, a lot of this doesn't belong to me.
> 
> A hell of a lot of this is the exact lines from the show, but I've added in extra lines and scenes to accommodate for the daemons. Also some small thasmin content. I spent four days on this and I loved every second of writing it, but I will never rewrite an episode again.
> 
> A quick run down of the character's daemons for those of you who don't want to read my other fic:  
> Yaz - Tajas, Asian Golden Cat  
> Ryan - Juniper, Beech Marten  
> Graham - Georgia, Beagle  
> Grace - Quince, Common Frog  
> The Doctor - Asa, you'll just have to wait and see :)

Yaz was currently trying to wrap her head around what had just happened. She wasn’t quite sure whether the large tentacle-like ball of electricity that she had just seen floating in the middle of a train carriage was real; whether it had actually zapped her and everyone else in the carriage with some sort of electrical current; and whether she had actually just witnessed the thing flying away.

However, she didn’t have much time to think about it as the blonde woman seemed to be taking charge of the situation and Yaz was _not_ about to let that happen.

“You three, relax, but stay put. I’ll check the rest of the train.” She addressed the other three civilians before turning around where Yaz and Ryan were standing with Tajas and Juniper. “Fat lot of use you two were!”

“Hey!” Yaz exchanged a brief exasperated look with her Asian Golden Cat daemon before following after the strange woman. “Hold on there please madam, I need you to do as I say, this could be a potential crime scene.”

The stranger stopped in her tracks and turned around with a confused look on her face, “Why are you calling me madam?” 

“Because you’re a woman?”

“Am I?! Does it suit me?”

“What?” Now Yaz was completely confused.

“Oh yeah! I remember. Sorry, half an hour ago I was a white haired Scotsman. When’s the next train due?”

“This is the last one back.” Ryan supplied rather helpfully, clearly not as bothered about whatever the hell was going on with this woman.

“But the doors are locked, how did you both get in?” The stranger started moving back down the train as she spoke.

“Driver’s window was smashed in.”

“What’s your name?” The stranger asked her.

Yaz was starting to get fed up with being on the receiving end of the Q&A session. “PC Khan. Hallamshire Police.”

“Name, not title.”

“Yasmin Khan, Yaz to my friends. And this is Tajas.” She gestured briefly towards her daemon, who was loyally following alongside her - clearly looking out for any helpful clues as to what had happened. “Can I have your name, please?”

“When I can remember it.”

“You don’t know your own name?”

“Course I know it! I just can’t remember it.” She stopped, again, “It’s right there on the tip of my… what’s that?” The strange woman turned around to face her and Ryan, pointing at her tongue.

“Tongue?” Ryan now seemed to be as confused by this woman as she was.

“Tongue! Smart boy, biology. What did she call you? Ryan?”

“Yeah, Ryan Sinclair - and this is Juniper.” He pointed to his beech marten daemon who was standing by his feet, looking up at the rest of them.

“Good name, are you a doctor Ryan?”

“No.”

“Shame, I’m looking for a doctor.”

Then, she started walking again. Yaz was more than a little concerned for this woman’s mental state but was also half wondering whether she was a detective of some sort - it would be a somewhat logical assumption given the way the woman was conducting herself. 

Before she followed after the woman Tajas stopped her. “Yaz, she hasn’t got a daemon with her!” He half whispered at her, evident concern in his voice.

“What? Are you sure?” On a normal occasion Yaz would never mistrust her daemon’s instincts, but there was no way this woman could have been walking around without a daemon - she must just have a small daemon in one of her many pockets.

“Tajas’ is right, I can’t sense one anywhere near her either.” Juniper spoke from where she was standing.

This statement caused Yaz to cast a worrying look at Ryan, which was returned. Unfortunately, this wasn’t the strangest thing to have happened that night. Yaz decided to try and cast aside this woman’s lack of a daemon and focus on the case, deciding to follow the direction she had watched the blonde disappear off to.

By the time the four of them had caught up to her, the woman had managed to turn on the power, lights and doors and was examining the dead body.

“That thing must’ve killed her as it came through.” Ryan stated, shining his torch over the body.

“Must it? Didn’t kill anyone else. Looks more like she died of shock when it smashed through the window.” 

Yaz was definitely sticking with her detective theory.

“Either way, a woman has died here.” She felt Tajas’ fur bristling slightly from where he stood next to her and she reached down a hand to stroke his neck.

“But no more creatures, and no other passengers left on board. Let’s get back to the others.” Just like that the woman was on the move again.

“Wait. Can you stop please? This could be a major incident. I’m the one in charge here.” Finally Yaz was able to attempt at putting herself back in charge, she heard Taj let out a small purr of support.

“What are you going to do?” 

“Call it into my station.”

“What are you going to tell them?” The stranger seemed to be challenging her again and Yaz knew that she was probably going to lose this little battle. 

“The facts.”

“Which are?”

“The train was attacked.”

“By what?”

“I need to take a look at CCTV footage.”

“And why d’you need to check CCTV when we all saw it with our own eyes?”

“Was it an alien? Because it looked like an alien to me.” Ryan piped back up, clearly excited again.

“Oh come on.” Yaz shook her head and glanced down at Tajas, the evidence had all been laid out in front of her - there had to be a more logical explanation for what they had seen.

“What, you think he’s wrong?” Asked the stranger, raising her eyebrows at her.

“No, I dunno, but-”

“But, you’re worried about how you’ll explain all this to a superior officer who won’t believe you.” 

Damn, she was right. Without looking at him, Yaz knew that Taj was awkwardly shifting on his large paws. “I can’t not report it!”

“You could hold off until we get the answers to the bigger questions.”

“Which are?” Yaz knew that she was slowly being convinced, but she decided to go along with it anyway. If this woman was involved with some sort of alien business, then there was probably a logical explanation as to why she was lacking a daemon.

“What was it? Why is it here? Where’s it going next? And most importantly, how do we stop it? Cos whatever it is, I don’t think it’s done. Come on Ryan! Come on Yaz. I’m calling you Yaz, cos we’re friends now.” At the last statement the woman lightly gripped Yaz’s arms and came face to face with her, which caused Yaz’s heart rate to elevate slightly - though she was quick to regain composure.

When she looked back the blonde was already storming ahead, back to the carriage where Ryan’s nan and the two men were waiting. Sighing, Yaz followed after her again.

Once everyone was gathered together, the woman looked like she was about to take charge again, when a small eagle like daemon flew through the hole in the roof and landed on the stranger’s shoulder. 

“Ah, I was wondering when you were gonna show up. Where’ve you been then?” The blonde addressed the daemon with a questioning gaze.

“Oh well you see, some idiot decided to regenerate in his ship - causing the entire thing to malfunction and get out of control. I was left to fly aimlessly around searching for him.” The bird daemon snapped at the woman, before hopping off of her shoulder and onto the seat. Yaz assumed that this daemon belonged to the woman, though the bird’s voice sounded distinctly female.

Then, something happened which Yaz had not at all been expecting. The daemon changed its form. One minute there was a medium sized, eagle-like daemon - the next there was a brown hare who was struggling to balance on the slim chair back, and ended up sliding down onto the seat. 

Everyone else in the carriage seemed just as shocked as her, she saw one of the men step back while the rest of them just stared in a mixture of fear, confusion and mild wonder. Well, everyone except for the woman, who continued the conversation as though an adult’s daemon randomly changing forms was the most normal thing in the world. 

“Sorry… But where else was I gonna regenerate - it's not like we had time to land the TARDIS!”

“You could have just stayed where we were before!” Again, the daemon changed - this time taking the form of a racoon.

“Oh that’s boring! And besides, if I hadn't regenerated there I would have never fallen onto this train - and if I hadn’t have done that I would have never seen that alien!” The woman was gesturing wildly, clearly trying to argue her point. During her speech the daemon had changed once again, and this time a golden retriever sat in the chair.

“Doctor-“ The daemon tried to start speaking again but was cut off when the woman jumped up in the air excitedly, letting out a small squeal.

“AH! YES! That’s my name! Right - introductions are in order.” She turned back to the rest of them finally, a large grin on her face. “I’m The Doctor, and this is Asa.” 

So, her daemon definitely was female then - having a daemon the same sex as you was not normal, but not completely unheard of. 

“I’m Grace - O’Brien, and this is Quince.” Grace, Ryan’s nan, was the first to speak - clearly trying to be polite as she introduced herself and her frog daemon, who was currently perched on her shoulder. 

“Uh, I’m Graham O’Brien, and that’s Georgia.” Graham was nowhere near as good at hiding his clear fear and shock as his wife was, yet he still found it in him to introduce himself and his beagle daemon.

“I’m, uh, Karl - and this is Imogen.” Karl gave a small nod to his gecko daemon, who was perched in his pocket.

“And that’s Yaz and Tajas, and Ryan and Juniper.” The Doctor (?) finished for them, pointing them out to her daemon, who was now a magpie. “Alright, we’re gonna check the rest of the train for clues, make sure we haven’t missed anything - you lot wait here, we'll be right back.” 

Yet again the woman was wandering off down the train carriages, this time with a lynx daemon following her. 

“And I’m going to handle this the proper way, I’ll need information from all of you in case the police need your statement later on.”

A little while later, when she was taking Karl’s information, the blonde returned with a lemur daemon perched on her shoulder.

“Right then troops! No, not troops. Team, gang, fam?”

“Focus Doctor.” Asa chided with a flick of her tail.

“You came crashing through that roof! And your daemon was apart from you for a long time!” Grace stated, finally saying what everyone else had been a bit too scared to mention. 

“We were thrown out of our TARDIS. Oh, I’ve lost my TARDIS!”

“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you, she dematerialised - not a clue where she went.” Asa chirped in an obviously annoyed tone, now taking the form of a robin.

“Okay, don’t panic. Not the end of the world. Well, it could be the end of the world, but one thing at a time.”

“Are we supposed to understand anything you’re saying?” Graham asked, clearly more confused than the rest of them.

“She thinks that thing is an alien.” Ryan told him.

“Don’t be daft! There’s no such thing as aliens. Anyway even if there was, they ain’t gonna be on a train in Sheffield!” Graham was clearly going for the denial route, Georgia sat next to him wagging her tail as he spoke.

“Why not?! I’m alien and I’m here.” The Doctor challenged him.

Well that certainly explained a lot.

“Grace, we’re going.” Graham turned to walk out of the carriage, but was stopped when his wife grabbed his arm.

“No we’re not! She just saved our lives.”

“Don’t be scared. All of this is new to you and new can be scary. Now we all want answers. Stick with me, you might get some.” The Doctor’s daemon had now taken the form of an Irish Wolfhound and was standing next to her, wagging her tail.

“Actually, um, I don’t want answers. I just want to get to work and forget about all this. If that’s alright with everyone… even if it isn’t. Thank you.” Karl clearly seemed the most jostled of the group.

“Would you like me to-“ Yaz tried to offer some support.

“No! Thank you. I just want to be on my own. A walk, need the air. And I’m with him!” He pointed towards Graham, “we don’t get aliens in Sheffield.” 

“I think he’s still in shock, bless him.” Grace gave him a look of sympathy as he walked away.

“Obvious question, but has anyone noticed anything else out of the ordinary tonight?” Asa looked around the group from where she had sat on one of the train seats, now looking like an Arctic Fox.

The Doctor’s question prompted Yaz to gaze over at Ryan - remembering the strange object that had gotten her into this mess in the first place. Ryan clearly thought the same thing as he slowly raised his hand.

———— 

The group had decided to go and take a look at the object. Or, more accurately, The Doctor had decided to go back and look at the object and everyone else decided to follow. Of course, Yaz had been the only one with a vehicle so she was the driver. 

Getting everyone in the vehicle had been a bit of a tight squeeze, though luckily most of them had small daemons that could sit on your lap. Apart from Tajas, of course, who was laying down in the boot of the car. He would usually sit on the seat next to Yaz, but The Doctor was currently sitting there. Yaz noticed that her daemon had only changed once since they left the train, into the small otter form that she was still in.

“Have you settled then, Asa?”

“No, I just don’t know what I’m going to change into next - best not to risk it while we’re in the car, Doctor.”

“So, if you’re an alien, is that why your daemon isn’t settled?” Ryan asked from his seat, causing him to get a light smack on the arm from his nan.

“Ryan! You can’t just ask someone that.”

“Oh it’s alright, we don’t mind - humans tend to have all these complicated rules surrounding daemons. Asa and I don’t care for them much, but we’ll still respect them around you.” The Doctor looked back at him with a smile.

“And, to answer the question. Yes, it is. I’ll settle at some point - whenever The Doctor has got a grasp on who she is. It could be hours, or it could be days. Depends really.” Asa spoke, briefly surprising the rest of them by breaking the unspoken rule that daemons only spoke to each other and their humans.

“Yeah, new body. Same me, but also different. Still trying to figure out who I am. Might take a while.”

Silence overcame the group while they digested the information, then a realisation came to Yaz.

“I’m going to be in such trouble if they find out I were there.”

“Can we have the lights and siren on?” The Doctor asked, Asa peeking up in her lap.

“No! I shouldn’t be doing any of this.” Yaz stated, trying to ignore the rather dejected looks on The Doctor and her daemon’s faces.

“So you three know each other?”

“I’m his nan, Graham’s me husband.” Grace answered cheerfully.

“Second husband.” Ryan sniped.

“And you two know each other?” The curious blonde asked, flicking her hand between Ryan and herself.

“Yeah, Yaz and I were at school together.”

“Not Yasmin Khan?”

Yaz turned round to Grace with a smile, “Hello, Ryan’s Nan.”

“Haven’t you done well for yourself love!”

The Doctor seemed to ignore their interaction as she turned back to Ryan, “And you say you just found it there, this thing.”

“Yeah, pretty Much. I took pictures.” He handed his phone through to The Doctor.

“Good lad. That’s exciting! No, not exciting - what do I mean?”

“Worrying.” Asa answered her.

“Yes, fast as you can Yaz!” The Doctor urged her on. 

\------

Once they had gotten to the location, all of them piled out of the car and Yaz was glad to be reunited with Tajas - the distance hadn’t hurt, but she had always felt safer when he was right by her side. As soon as they had exited the car Asa had transformed into a large golden antelope of sorts, with two short antlers on top of her head.

“There’s my bike.” Ryan pointed out, shining his torch in the direction of the tree.

“Why’s it in a tree?” The Doctor asked, and Yaz was surprised to realise she hadn’t asked the same thing earlier. 

“We were up top and I chucked it over.” Ryan explained.

“He gets cross cos he can’t ride it.” Graham spoke.

“We were giving him lessons. He’s got dyspraxia - it's a coordination disorder.” Grace gave more context, though this clearly made Ryan uncomfortable.

“Anyway! Enough about me! The tree’s to the left so it should be…” He shone his torch over the spot where the two of them had seen the alien object earlier.

To their surprise the object had disappeared. Tajas immediately started sniffing the ground and surrounding areas - looking for clues. Juniper and Georgia seemed to do the same. 

“It was definitely there.” Yaz told them, suddenly rather confused again.

“So where’s it gone?” The Doctor asked from where she had crouched down. 

It was then that Yaz noticed that she could no longer see Asa, which was weird considering that the form the daemon had taken was large and impossible not to spot. The Doctor didn’t seem the least bit bothered, she didn’t even seem like she had noticed that her daemon was missing again - clearly she was too engaged in investigating the surrounding area.

Asa came back a few minutes later, though her form was exactly the same as Tajas and Yaz had to do a double take.

“I caught a scent, human. I think someone took it.”

“Why would they do that?” Graham asked.

“Why does anyone do anything?” The Doctor replied, not looking up from where she was.

Eventually, they headed back to the car and all squished in again, Asa taking on the form of a small parrot, perching on The Doctor’s shoulder. They decided to go back to Graham and Grace’s house to do some research.

Once they got there everyone apart from Yaz got out from the vehicle, causing Taj to climb back over the seats and into the one next to her’s.

“Two weird things, one city, same night, makes me nervous.” The Doctor spoke to her, leaning on Yaz’s open window.

“I’ll see if there have been any more reports on that object.” She told her reassuringly.

“Good, cos we need all the information we can get. Meet us back here.” The Doctor smiled at her and Yaz nodded in reply before setting off towards her station.

Once on the road Yaz took a moment to breathe and take in the silence.

“Well, this night is not at all panning out like I imagined it would.” She spoke with a soft laugh in an attempt to hide her fear.

“You’re telling me! At least you finally got what you were asking for, this is definitely challenging.” Tajas purred.

“That woman, she can’t really be an alien. She looks human!”

“I think her being an alien is the best assumption. Especially given her daemon. Firstly, Asa’s female - same as The Doctor; secondly, Asa’s not settled; and thirdly, Asa was nowhere nearby when we were on the train - but neither of them seemed affected by it.”

“Yeah, she wandered off in the forest too.” Yaz found herself agreeing with her daemon. “It’s just a lot to get used to.”

“Yeah, I know.” Taj didn’t say much, but Yaz knew that he was supporting her. “Quite cute though, for an alien.”

“Taj!” Yaz was now blushing and very glad that it was just them in the car.

Before she knew it they were at the station, the two of them hopping out of the car and inside. They were quickly able to locate Sergeant Sunder and his Belgian Malinois daemon Thalia.

“Yaz, you’ve done your shift. Stop pestering me for more interesting shouts.” 

“It’s not that. I’m just wondering whether there’s been anything else out of the ordinary tonight.” She asked him while following him through the building, Tajas padding along beside her.

“It’s the night shift in Sheffield. Everything’s out of the ordinary!” He told her before turning away and slamming the door on her.

Yaz whipped back around, somewhat pissed off, and Tajas let out a frustrated growl. Sighing, Yaz made her way to the locker room to change out of her uniform. Once she had changed, the two of them made their way to the bus stop. It was only one stop to Grace’s house, but it was late September and fairly cold out. When the two of them had finally arrived back at the house, Yaz knocked on the door and Grace opened it.

“Oh, come in love. Did you have any luck at the station?” 

“No, what about you? Any luck here?”

“Ryan’s been looking on the internet and news, but I don’t think he’s found anything.” Grace told her, as she led Yaz into the living room.

Once in there Yaz noticed that The Doctor was passed out on their sofa, with Asa on top of her in the form of a large, colourful squirrel. “What happened to her?”

“She passed out not long after you left, Ryan and I had to carry them inside.” 

Tajas got closer to the sleeping figures and gave them a tentative sniff before turning back to Yaz.

“Yeah, and she’s been glowing!” Ryan told her from where he was sitting at the table, Juniper sat on the table looking at the iPad in his hands. 

Yaz turned to look at him, giving him a look that hopefully conveyed just how crazy she thought he was. “Glowing?” 

“Look, she’s doing it again!” Ryan pointed back at The Doctor who’s skin was now shimmering with yellow and gold patterns.

Just then, they heard the front door open, Graham and Georgia wandered into the room a few seconds later. He stopped short when he too saw The Doctor’s glowing form.

“Okay, now I’ve seen everything.” He stated.

The four of them (plus daemons) gathered round the sleeping woman, all of them trying to figure out what she was doing. 

Then, with a loud yell, she sprung forward, flinging Asa off of her chest and into her lap- clearly awake again. 

“Who woke me up? I’m not ready, still healing, still…” The Doctor was breathing quickly, clearly panicked. Though if her face hadn't given away her panic, her daemon would have.

Asa was hovering in the air shifting between bird forms faster than Yaz had ever seen a daemon change - it was almost dizzying to watch.

“Can you smell that?” The Doctor asked, now perched on the top of the sofa back. “No, not smell, not hear, feel - can you feel..?” Her sentence was cut off by her reaching her hand below her shirt by her neck. “Stay still Ryan.” She stared at him very intensely, her voice sounding incredibly serious.

“What is it? What’s the matter?” Ryan, understandably, sounded very panicked - Juniper let out a little frightened squeak. 

The Doctor didn’t explain herself, instead she pulled down part of Ryan’s jumper to display his collarbone. “Ah… show me your collarbones.” 

Yaz did as she asked, as did everyone else. They all had small, flashing magenta lights, seemingly buried beneath their skin.

“Oh you’ve all got them.” The Doctor half whispered, a look of worry on her face. Asa had stopped changing so rapidly and was now sitting on her shoulder in the form of a small monkey.

“So have you.” Ryan pointed out, causing the woman to look down at her collarbone.

“Yeah - I have, okay… Really sorry, not good news. DNA bombs. Micro-implants which code to your DNA. On detonation, they disrupt the foundation of your genetic code - melting your DNA. Fast, and nasty, and outlawed in every civilised galaxy.” The Doctor told them, walking around them as if examining them and looking for clues. Tajas watched her as she prowled around them, he was clearly unnerved.

“How did we get them?!” Ryan asked, even more panicked now.

“Never mind that, are they going to go off?” Graham asked, deeply concerned.

“Quiet! I’m trying to think, it’s difficult, I’m not yet who I am. Brain and body still rebooting, reformatting.” The Doctor looked and sounded as though she was hurting, but Yaz had no clue how to help her so she just watched. “Ooooh! Reformatting! Can I borrow that?” Suddenly, her tone changed as she made her way over to the table, gesturing to Ryan’s phone.

“Yeah I guess so, but what for?”

“That creature, on the train, when you two came on board it zapped us all with these. Simple plan to take out witnesses. Very clever. Merciless, but clever.” The Doctor seemed to be talking at 100 words a second while also concentration very intensely on Ryan’s phone.

She turned back around to the group, “I reformatted your phone.” She told Ryan with a big grin, Asa on her shoulder in magpie form - matching with the woman’s outfit.

“No! All my stuff’s on there!” Ryan yelled at her in an extremely distressed tone.

“Not any more!” She was still smiling at him, holding the phone in one of her outstretched arms.

Then, she held the phone up to her neck and the next thing Yaz knew was that The Doctor and Asa had been slammed back against a cabinet - The Doctor shrieking before landing on the floor on all fours. Yaz saw Tajas jump back a little bit, as though he was worried the rather destructive pair would be coming for him and Yaz next. Surprisingly, neither of them seemed too affected - Asa changing to look like a husky and shaking herself off. 

“That nap did us the world of good! Very comfy sofa!” She nodded at Grace, before quickly turning her attention back to the phone and scrambling to get up. 

The Doctor ran to the chair where Grace had placed her torn up coat, and then ran in the direction off the door - briefly turning back and telling the rest of them to keep up with her. Yaz almost sighed in relief as the woman left the room, and she felt Taj relaxing too.

“I think I liked them better when they were asleep.” He told her, and she nodded in agreement. 

Currently, the only way Yaz could think of describing the pair was as a whirlwind, running around everywhere and leaving minor destruction and havoc in their wake.

“We best follow them, who knows what will happen if we leave them alone for too long.” Grace told the group, who then made their way outside to where the strange woman was waiting for them - a pale ginger tabby cat daemon stood by her side, tail twitching in anticipation.

The five of them then piled into Grace’s car - Taj yet again having to stuff himself in the boot of the car, which wasn’t as roomy as the police car that they usually drove in. 

The Doctor was yet again sitting in the front passenger seat, calling out directions to Grace.

“Where are we driving to?” Yaz asked, mildly annoyed that all they seemed to be doing was following this stranger without question.

“I reckon she’s using my phone to track the origin signal for the DNA bombs.” Ryan answered her.

“Again, how long till they go off?” Graham asked, clearly still preoccupied with the thought of the tiny bombs.

“Don’t know.” The Doctor replied, sounding mildly annoyed.

“Well, can’t we just diffuse them?” 

“Not without the right equipment.” She told him, before calling out more directions for Grace - who seemed the most unbothered by their predicament.

Soon, they had pulled into an alleyway of sorts. They all stumbled out of the car, Yaz being last as she had to help Tajas out.

“We’re close.” The Doctor told them, keeping her eye on the empty alleyway, before turning to look into a puddle - the water seemed to be vibrating. 

Ryan’s phone was now rapidly beeping and there was an explosion in one of the warehouses ahead of them - causing everyone to jump back a bit. Asa shifted into a dark grey wolf and placed herself slightly ahead of the rest of them, Tajas moved himself slightly in front of Yaz. Out of the smoke they could see a tall, dark figure walking away from the building.

“Bingo! OI!” The Doctor yelled at the creature, which turned to look at them. “Oh, I was expecting a tentacle-y thing. DON’T YOU MOVE!” She yelled at it again, though it obviously didn’t care as it did exactly what she told it not to.

The Doctor and Asa then took off down the alley, running after the figure.

“Wait, is that another alien?” Ryan asked as him and Juniper started to run after them.

“Looks like it!” Grace replied, following after them too - Quince tucked safely into one of her pockets. 

“Why’s she running at another alien?!” Graham yelled in distress, Georgia letting out a small frustrated whine.

“Don’t just stand there! Come on!” Yaz yelled at him, taking off after the rest of them.

Due to her job, Yaz was the fittest of the group, and she and Tajas were quickly able to overtake both Grace and Ryan - Taj’s large, powerful paws running in step with Yaz’s feet.

She soon caught up to The Doctor and the two of them slowed to a halt, both breathing hard. 

“Ah, lost it! It’s fast.” She sighed, holding onto her side as though she had a stitch. “I’m slower cos of all this fizzing inside.” That comment simply caused Yaz to look at the woman with a bewildered expression.

“I’ll go and see if I can spot it again.” Asa spoke, before turning into a large silver eagle and flying up into the sky. 

“In here!” Ryan yelled from behind them, Yaz and The Doctor both turning to look.

They jogged back to where Ryan was standing, before following inside the warehouse where the explosion had come from.

“Got a man down over here.” Graham told them. On the floor in front of them a dead body was splayed out. 

“That thing must have killed him, I’ve never seen injuries like these.” Grace told them from where she was examining the body.

“Not a weapon blast, more of an ice burn.” The Doctor now started to examine the body, crouching down to get closer.

“It broke his jaw open too.” Grace told her.

“Looks like it took one of his teeth. What sort of creature kills someone and then stops to pull out a tooth? I’m sorry you all had to see this.” Her tone became softer at the last bit, showing genuine worry.

“I’ll find something to cover the body.” 

“Thank you, Grace. I’m sorry that any of this is happening. I’m sorry that thing on the train planted these bombs inside you. And I’m sorry I haven’t figured out what’s going on yet.” 

“This is it! This is the thing!” Ryan told them, pointing at what seemed to be a large broken shell on the floor.

“It was all sealed up earlier.” Yaz pointed out as the rest of them walked over to Ryan and Juniper - the latter of the two was inspecting a small part of the strange alien bulb. “Looks like it’s been broken.”

“Or it’s done what it came here for.” The Doctor speculated as she carefully made her way around the wreckage - Yaz and Tajas were following her, inspecting it as well. “It’s some sort of transport chamber, presumably for that thing we just saw in the alley. But why here? Why tonight?”

“Actually: that might have been me.” Ryan spoke up, causing everyone to look at him with worry and confusion. Yaz noticed that Juniper’s tail was twitching uncomfortably.

“Why? What did you do?” The Doctor asked him.

Ryan sighed before explaining, “when I went to get me bike, there were this line in the air. And then it moved, and there were shapes.” 

“And?” The Doctor nodded her head forward, indicating for him to continue.

“And I touched one.”

Of course he did. Yaz shared an unamused look with Tajas, who had clearly had the same reaction.

“Ryan!” Grace scolded him, Quince letting out a disappointed croak.

“You’d all would’ve done the same!” He argued.

“I wouldn’t!” Graham said rather matter-of-fact-ly.

“I would’ve.” The Doctor told them honestly, holding up her hand and scrunching up her face.

“Alright, the shapes disappeared - a few seconds later, that appeared.” He explained, before turning to the alien, “What’ve I done?”

“Hard to say really.” She told them, clearly still examining the supposed transport pod.

“I spose you’ll be blaming this on the dyspraxia as well. Can’t ride a bike, started an alien invasion.” Graham started complaining - which was all he seemed to do.

Yaz gave Tajas an exhausted look and scratched his ears - investigating alien murders was one thing, but she really hadn’t wanted to get in the middle of any family arguments. 

“Graham!” Grace scolded him - she seemed to be the mediator in the family.

“What?” Weirdly, Graham seemed genuinely baffled - Georgia too seemed to share his confusion as she tilted her head at Grace.

“Enough, love!”

Trying to stay out of the drama, Yaz looked over to The Doctor to see what she was doing - then Yaz smiled as it seemed as though she had taken no notice of the background chatter.

“Alright, I made a mistake. But why did that guy move this thing from the Peaks to here? And how did he even know it were there?” Ryan pointed out, giving Graham a rather annoyed look.

“Good questions.” The Doctor pointed out, taking no notice of the tension that had now settled in the room.

“Let’s take a look around here, see what we can find.” Yaz gestured for Ryan to follow her and the two of them made their way further into the warehouse, daemons padding along ahead of them.

The two of them made their way into what seemed to be a storage room, shelves packed with random tools and parts of equipment. As Yaz and Ryan shone their torches around the room, Tajas and Juniper took to investigating by sniffing everything and looking for any clues in places their humans couldn’t get to.

“It’s not your fault, all this.” Yaz tried to offer some support, but she had never exactly been good at it.

“Yeah, it basically is.” 

“You couldn’t have known that was gonna happen.” 

“Maybe tell Graham that.”

“He knows, really.” Yaz wasn’t sure if he did, but if he didn’t she knew Grace would tell him.

The two of them looked around a bit more before Yaz blurted out the question that she had wanted to ask for a while. 

“Do you believe she’s an alien?” Yaz stared back in the direction they had come from.

“Yeah, I think I do, yeah. Is that mad?” He looked at her, clearly unsure of what he should be saying.

“No. I think I do too.” 

After all, there was no other explanation that Yaz could think of. Apart from the myths about witches - who were supposedly able to fly, and to be apart from their daemon far longer than the average human. But that made even less sense than The Doctor being an alien.

“Hey, look in here.” Ryan had turned around towards a half smashed in window.

Inside the room there seemed to be all sorts of papers, files, newspaper clippings, photos and various other items that might have counted as evidence for something. The four of them went inside and had a snoop around. 

“Hey, look at this.” Ryan called from across the room. 

Yaz and Tajas wandered over to where he was standing by a computer, Juniper up on the desk by the keyboard. In the middle of the computer’s home screen there was a video titled “IF I DIE CLICK HERE”. Ryan went to start the video but Yaz stopped him.

“Let’s go get the others, show them what we found - there’s tons of shit here, like someone was gathering evidence for something.”

“Yeah, you’re right - I’ll go grab them.” Ryan told her before jogging off back down the halls, leaving her and Taj alone.

“This night just keeps getting weirder and weirder.” She told him, going back to flip through a folder filled with missing persons fliers.

“On the plus side, it’s quite fun - like we’re solving a proper murder mystery.” Tajas commented, causing Yaz to giggle.

“Yeah, a proper murder mystery - with aliens.” 

Soon, the rest of the group had returned - though The Doctor was still without Asa, and seemed perfectly fine - and they all watched the video that the dead man had left. Once it finished they stood in silence for a moment, digesting the information.

“He knew what he was doing might kill him.” Ryan pointed out.

The Doctor then reached forward to the photo that had been left on the desk, looking at it sorrowfully. “She was his family.”

\--------

After a while, the group had reconvened in the main area of the warehouse. As soon as she spotted the broken transport pod again, The Doctor got back to work. To Yaz’s surprise she pulled something out of her pockets - despite her earlier grievances over them being empty. She rather aggressively pointed whatever it was at the broken shell, it lit up amber and made a strange buzzing noise.

“Did you just make that?” Ryan asked her, as the group watched her make her way around the alien object.

“Sonic screwdriver, Well, I say screwdriver, but it's a bit more multi-purpose than that. Scanner, diagnostics - tin opener! More of a… sonic Swiss Army knife. Only without the knife! Only idiots carry knives.” As she explained she seemed to be taking readings from the object using the ‘sonic screwdriver’.

“What are you doing with it?” Ryan queried. 

“Mapping the distance this object has travelled. It looks like it started over 5,000 galaxies away.” The Doctor explained to them.

“How can you tell?” Yaz asked her, genuinely intrigued. 

“That bit, there-” The Doctor pointed at a small crystal-like object that was glowing a slightly darker colour than the sonic screwdriver had been. “Recall circuitry. It’s designed for a return journey.” 

“So… whatever killed that bloke, will have to come back here?” Graham - ever the worrier - asked her with a hint of panic in his voice.

The Doctor seemed to ignore him, “Question is, why did it leave? What’s it looking for?” 

“What’s your best guess, love?” Grace asked her in a kind tone.

“Two aliens, one city, one night? Best guess? Two species at war, using Earth as a battleground.” 

Her statement caused Yaz to gulp - she could see Tajas’ tail twitching out of the corner of her eye. “Are you joking?” 

“Nope! Sorry.” The Doctor replied as she started walking around the room, clearly not too bothered.

Graham, on the other hand, was bothered.

“So, you’re saying that the creature on the train, and the thing that came out of here, they’re now looking for each other - spoiling for a scrap?” 

“Bit more than a scrap.” The alien was now carrying a box and some other random item which she seemingly had a purpose for.

“What are we gonna do? Cause, this is my home - and I’m not having it being an alien battle ground!” Yaz told the blonde, Tajas purring beside her. 

“We stop them meeting.” She was now piling random objects into a bag, “Capture them, send them home. Away from each other, and away from Earth.”

“How do we do that?” Ryan interjected.

“Well, give me a minute, I’m working on it!” The Doctor was starting to sound annoyed.

“Not to sound like a stuck record, but can I just ask about these DNA bombs? Like, how long have we got left?” Graham asked, sounding like a stuck record.

The alien seemed to have finally snapped, dropping everything she had gathered onto the floor and turning round to face them. 

“Enough questions! You lot, you love to chat, I get it. Lots to do! I’m working on it all. And I haven’t forgotten about your collarbones, Graham. Give me nine minutes, a bit of quiet, and I’ll be ready to roll!” 

Just then, Asa came flying back through the warehouse - swooping past Yaz and the others - landing directly on The Doctor’s shoulders. While she was still in bird form, Asa was definitely not the same bird she had left as - she was smaller and looked more like a falcon.

“Getting annoyed at the humans again, I see.” She commented with obvious amusement in her voice.

“You sure took your time - manage to catch up to it?”

“I tried to, but I lost sight of it after a while. However, I did find your other alien.”

“OH ASA! You’re a genius!” The alien was grinning at her daemon, who had changed to look like a jaguar and was inspecting the transport pod.

“Well I should hope so, I am your daemon after all.” Asa replied affectionately, “Anyway - that's not the most interesting thing. I got a closer look at it - I’m pretty sure it's a load of gathering coils all smashed together.”

“Gathering coils? That’s interesting - and it definitely pokes holes in my hypothesis.” She now had a questioning look on her face. 

“Look, it’s probably easier if I just show you - let me know when you’ve got everything you need and I’ll point the way.” 

The Doctor nodded at her daemon before turning back to what she was doing. Asa then decided to pad off through the rest of the warehouse. It still unnerved Yaz how the two of them were able to separate with ease.

Almost exactly nine minutes later, The Doctor was ready to go and they were forced to stuff themselves into Grace’s car again. However, it was even more cramped this time as they were forced to sit with all the crap The Doctor had bought with her. While Asa was giving Grace directions, Ryan decided to ask another question they had all been wanting to ask.

“So, Asa being able to separate from you - is that an alien thing?” 

The question seemed to excite The Doctor, who turned around to them with a smile - jostling Asa, who was sitting on her lap as a small black cat. 

“Yes, well, sort of. Okay so, obviously you all know that as you get older the bond between you and your daemon gets stronger. Well, I’m really old - like, super old compared to you lot, your life spans are dismally small. Anyway, it means that Asa and I have a very strong bond - which is good for things like being separated across long distances, but it’s bad when we get hurt. Oh, but we are even able to communicate telepathically if we want!” She was grinning all throughout her explanation.

Eventually, they arrived at their destination - Norton Water Tower - and they could see the alien floating around at the top. Each of them grabbed some of The Doctor’s equipment as she explained the plan for how to take it down. 

“Hi! Us again!” The Doctor exclaimed, standing in front of the large alien. 

Then, the five of them quickly got to task, doing everything that the alien woman had told them to do. 

As she yelled “NOW!” Grace stabbed the creature, which struggled for a few seconds before falling to a heap on the ground.

“Get in! It actually worked!” Ryan exclaimed, doing a little jump for joy - Juniper letting out an excited squeak. 

“Course it worked, Asa and I aren’t amateurs!” The Doctor retorted before wandering over to examine it, “Overloaded its socket, stunned it for a bit. Not sure for how long though, best be quick. And thank you, Asa, for your amazing intel and directions.” She smiled at her daemon, who was currently a small jackal. 

Then The Doctor pulled out her sonic screwdriver and started to wave it over the stunned alien. 

“Oh! A new sonic!” Asa wagged her tail excitedly upon seeing the device.

“Yeah, I made it - mostly out of spoons!” The Doctor shared her daemon’s enthusiasm. “And it looks like you were right Asa, it’s definitely a gathering coil. Well, dozens of gathering coils actually.” Then she turned to the group, “These tentacle-y things, they’re creatures which gather information. They’ve been lashed together and augmented into one super-creature. But why? What data are they gathering? Unless-” 

“So, that’s an alien species?” Yaz asked, a little confused and a little disappointed.

When she was younger Taj and her loved to dream of the stars - they loved to imagine and speculate on what might be out there, beyond their planet, beyond their home. However, she had managed to meet a total of two aliens so far and one of them looked human - despite the obvious differences with her daemon - and the other was whatever the hell was on the floor in front of her.

“Not really, more of a semi-species, weaponized bio-tech.”

“You said there were two aliens in a battle.” Yaz pointed out.

“You’re right I did, but now I think I was wrong and I’m trying to catch up with what that might mean.” The Doctor told her, looking down at the pile of gathering coils on the ground. “If I can access the data it’s gathered-” 

She quickly crouched down to the ground, pointing her sonic at the coils. Immediately, a hologram fizzed up into the air.

“It’s Karl from the train!” Graham pointed out, waving his hand at it.

“Karl’s the data! That’s what it was gathering on the train.” The Doctor sounded rather triumphant. 

“But, what would the alien want with him?” Graham asked.

Suddenly, there was a voice from behind them - almost robotic sounding, but not quite. “Which one of you shall I kill first?”

Yaz turned around to see the large alien from before, it was clad in dark blue and black armour and was wearing a hive-like mask over its face - and it didn’t have a daemon. There seemed to be a foggy mist surrounding it, as though it was coming from the creature itself. Tajas’ fur bristled and he let out a low growl, crouching in front of Yaz in a defensive position.

“I’m voting none of us. Get behind us now.” The Doctor’s tone was worried yet commanding as she and Asa - now a large lioness - came to stand in front of the group, in a similar pose to Tajas.

The alien took two large steps forward and Asa let out a loud growl. 

“Stop right there! Come any further and we’ll blast whatever that thing is.” The Doctor pointed her sonic device at the pile of coils behind her.

“You’re interfering in things you don’t understand.” The metallic property to the alien’s voice made Yaz shiver, causing Tajas to rub his tail against her leg as comfort.

“Yeah, well, we all need a hobby.” The Doctor shrugged at him. 

“You’re not human, who are you?” The alien asked her sceptically. 

“Me? I’m The Doctor.” Though Yaz couldn’t see her face, she was sure that the woman was grinning. 

“Doctor who?” He asked.

“Not actually very sure at the moment. Same question, back at you. No, in fact, before that, because it’s really bugging me, actually not bugging me, _offending_ me - why the teeth? Bad enough you kill, why take a tooth from the victim?” All throughout her little rant, she had been gesturing wildly, and Yaz thought it was sort of adorable how expressive and passionate she was.

The mysterious alien reached it’s gloved hand up to its mask, which it then proceeded to pull off, revealing a disgusting blue face covered with all different sorts of teeth - most of them human. Well, Yaz had wanted proper aliens.

“A Stenza warrior wears his conquests.” The alien hissed. “You may tell your children you were once privileged to encounter Tzim-Sha of the Stenza.” 

“Tim Shaw?” The Doctor asked, tilting her head to one side.

“Tzim-Sha.” 

“Tim Shaw…?” 

“Tzim-Sha!” He yelled at her, causing her to back off a little - though Asa didn’t flinch. “Soon to be leader of the Stenza warrior race, conquerors of the Nine Systems.”

“When you say ‘soon to be’ leader, what are you now, the office junior?” The Doctor joked, Asa twitching her tail in amusement. 

“Hey? No, no! Don’t wind him up!” Graham whined at her. 

“Tonight is my challenge. Trace and obtain the selected human trophy.” He told them menacingly. 

“It's a hunt. You’re on a hunt.” The Doctor pointed out, obviously outraged at the idea.

“Well done, your tiny mind must be burning with such... effort.” Tzim-Sha quipped.

The woman half-turned her head back to Yaz and the others, “did he just say I had a small mind?!” She seemed very offended, but Yaz was sure she should be focusing on other things.

“The challenge is simple. Our leaders randomly designate a selected human. I am sent here, alone - no weapons, no assistance. I must locate and obtain the trophy, and return home with it, victorious. By doing this, I ascend to leader. This is the ritual of the Stenza.” While speaking Tzim-Sha had gotten a crazed, power-hungry look in his eyes.

Then, Yaz realised something, “And it’s happened before. Rahul’s sister!” She was disgusted with the thought of aliens hunting anyone, let alone a child.

“Earth is not a hunting ground.” The Doctor’s tone had turned serious, and Asa was growling again.

“Access was granted.” He told them smugly.

“No, it wasn’t! It was a misunderstanding. Access revoked as of now, by me.” Ryan told the alien, though Yaz just turned to look at him as though he was mad, before quickly turning back to the alien.

“Just to pick up on one thing. You don’t mind, do you? You said the rules were no weapons, no assistance.” The Doctor started, sounding confident.

“Correct.” 

“How did you kill them? What caused the ice burns?” 

“We Stenza live at temperatures far below this planet, one touch of my cold skin will kill a human.” He told them, causing Yaz to gulp, but she still held her head high.

“So this super-powered gathering coil right here, you’re not meant to have it, are you?” The Doctor asked him accusingly, pointing at the coil.

“The creature is irrelevant.” The alien warrior growled, making Tajas step closer to Yaz.

“I don’t think it is! I think you smuggled it ahead of you. I think it located the ‘randomly designated’ human for you. I think _you_ broke the rules!” For some reason, she sounded more pissed off about him breaking the rules then she did about him hunting humans, “Some leader you’re going to make. Tim Shaw is a big, blue, cheat!” 

The Doctor’s accusation caused the alien to hold up his hand to her, revealing his now armour-less palm.

“Okay, fine, have it!” She jumped out of the way of the alien, Asa putting herself between Tim Shaw and The Doctor.

Yaz and the others all backed out of the way too, still staying behind The Doctor like she had told them to. The Stenza warrior had crouched down to the pile of gathering coils and attached himself to them, seemingly downloading something from them.

“What’s it doing?” Ryan asked her.

“Total transference.” 

The blue lights travelled up Tim Shaw’s arms, through his armour and into his helmet. Once they had all disappeared, he stood up and turned back to them.

“If you’ve finished, let’s be really clear, you’re not taking any human from Earth tonight. Leave now, or we’re gonna stop you.” 

“Good luck.” Tzim-Sha told them before disappearing in a blinding flash of electricity that had Yaz covering her eyes. 

“No! Short-range teleport! Double cheat!” The Doctor yelled out in frustration, though Asa simply changed into a small barn owl and flew onto her shoulder.

“Where have they gone?” Yaz asked, worried that the aliens were going to cause more deaths.

“To hunt.” 

“Hunt who?” Ryan asked.

“Isn’t it obvious?” She asked, before turning her attention to Yaz. “You’ve got Karl’s number right? I need you to call him, warn him about Tim Shaw.” 

Yaz nodded in response and grabbed her phone from her pocket. The Doctor started off back down the stairs and the rest of them followed after her - all getting back into Grace’s car. 

“Where are we going, love?” Grace asked, sat in the driver's seat - Quince perched up on the dashboard. 

“We need to find out where Karl works - that’s where he’ll be. Ryan, see if you can find him on the internet. It can’t be too far, he had to be able to walk there from the train.” Ryan and Grace nodded at The Doctor’s instructions, starting up the car and driving in that general direction.

“Karl’s number’s going straight to voicemail.” Yaz told the woman after a few minutes of trying to get a hold of him.

“Got him! Karl Wright, operator for Skylark Building Services.” Ryan exclaimed, Juniper was wagging her little tail excitedly.

“I know where their site is, it ain’t far - Grace, next right love.” Graham told her.

\------------

Before long they were pulling up to the building site, two large cranes in the distance. The Doctor ran out to the gate immediately, Asa changing into a dobermann and following behind.

The ten of them all squeezed through the gap in the fence where it had been broken, all carrying various bits of equipment The Doctor had brought with them. Ahead of them, Yaz could see a person laying on the ground and silently hoped that they were unconscious and not dead, but as she gets closer she realises that he has no daemon with him. The radio that was lying on the ground crackled and Karl’s voice came from it.

“Dennis, I need help here! Someone’s on my crane!” He sounded scared and desperate.

“Oh great. Karl’s a crane operator. He would be, wouldn’t he?” 

Yaz yet again felt herself getting annoyed at The Doctor focusing on the wrong things.

“It’s over there.” Ryan told them, pointing to one of the cranes where Yaz could just about make out a large figure slowly climbing up it.

“And that creature’s guarding the bottom of it.” Graham pointed out, causing Yaz to look further down and see the gathering coils looking alive again.

“Graham, Grace, need you to take this equipment and get everybody off this site. Don’t care how, use your initiative. Do not come back in, understand?” She looked at the two of them, who nodded affirmatively - she then turned to look at Ryan and Yaz. “Ryan, Juniper, Yaz, Tajas - how are you with machinery? And heights?”

Yaz had an unfortunate feeling that she knew where this was going.

The unfortunate feeling turned out to be right as she, Ryan and The Doctor (along with their daemons) ran towards the crane that the aliens weren’t occupying. As they got to the bottom and started climbing Asa changed from her dobermann form to a large grey heron. 

“I’ll meet you lot at the top.” She told them before taking up to the top of the crane.

The Doctor went first, climbing faster than the others. Yaz and Tajas went next, she made sure her daemon went first in case one of his paws slipped. Ryan and Juniper went last.

“That tentacle-y thing is guarding Karl’s crane, so we go up this one.” The Doctor told them while climbing.

“What do we do when we get up there?” Yaz asked, pausing on the ladder and Tajas pulled himself up onto the platform.

“Don’t worry, I’ve got a plan!” The Doctor yelled down at her - Yaz didn’t believe her though.

“Really?”

“Well, I will have by the time we get to the top.” 

Yaz exchanged an exasperated look with Ryan, who had now joined them on the platform, before setting off climbing up again. Then she looked back down at Ryan.

“Are you alright with this? Cos if it’s a problem you don’t have to do it.” She reassured them, knowing that between Ryan’s coordination difficulties and Juniper’s small size, it was going to be a tricky task for them.

“I do. I can do this.” He told her with confidence, making her smile at him before resuming the climb.

Looking up, Yaz could see that her new alien friend(?) had managed to climb quite far - and that she was yelling at Karl, trying to get his attention, though she couldn’t quite work out what she was saying. 

Then Yaz heard a clattering from below her and looked down to see Ryan’s torch dropping down the crane, and to see him looking very scared and gripping on to the ladder as if his life depended on it - which it probably did.

“Ryan! You okay?” He simply nodded in response, slowly taking a few more steps up the ladder, gaining his rhythm back.

Eventually, the four of them managed to catch up to The Doctor and Asa - both of whom seemed completely unbothered by the height.

“Oh we made it!” Ryan exclaimed, before looking around and changing his attitude, “oh, no, no, no, no, no, it’s way too high up here.” 

Yaz decided to ignore Ryan’s mini panic attack and turn her attention to The Doctor, “What’s the plan? You said you’d have a plan.” 

“Nearly, neeaarly, nearly... “ Then she clicked her fingers and looked directly at Yaz, “I got one! I climb onto the arm of this crane, you swing the arm round next to Karl’s crane.” She gestured the actions as she explained them.

“Oh, no, you’re kidding.” Ryan interjected, shocked at her plan. 

“Karl steps across, you swing the arm away, I get him back in here, all back down for a cuppa and a fried egg sandwich. I’m really craving a fried egg sandwich. Simple, no?” 

Yaz really couldn’t believe this woman. “Not really.” There was not a single part of her plan that was simple.

“All right, it’s a work in progress, but so’s life. It’ll be fine!” She scrunched up her face a bit, showing that she didn’t quite believe herself. “Ooh! I got these downstairs. One must work. You can figure out how to work a crane, right? Go!” The Doctor pushed a load of keys into Yaz’s hands before charging off to the crane arm, Asa flying after her.

Tajas huffed and Yaz shared a look of disbelief with Ryan, who was clutching Juniper tight in his arms. The four of them made their way into the cabin.

“Alright, I’ll try the keys, you look for a YouTube video on how to drive a crane.” She told Ryan, sitting down in the driver's seat and getting to work.

Luckily, most of the keys had labels on them, and she quickly disposed of any that didn’t say ‘crane’ on them. Finally, she managed to find the right one, fitting it in the slot and turning so that the crane powered up. 

“That's the one. Get in!” She smiled and Tajas purred, “Okay so, no we just need to swing the arm round to meet that one.” 

“Right, I think this shows us. Ready?” Ryan asked, showing her a tutorial on his phone.

“Every day’s a learning day!” She replied, quoting her father. 

Yaz grabbed the main handle like it showed in the tutorial and moved it to the side.

“Wrong way… Wrong way!” Ryan yelled at her, as if she wasn’t already aware.

“I know! Shut up!” She yelled back at him, flicking her eyes between the YouTube video and the crane.

She then proceeded to tug the handle the other way, keeping it moving at a steady pace. Yaz could see The Doctor and Asa hanging on to the end of the crane arm, the former of the two gesturing wildly at Karl.

Then, from behind her and Ryan, there was suddenly a spark followed by a small bang, and Yaz found that she was no longer able to get the crane to move. The four of them were resigned to watch the action from inside the little cabin. Karl seemed to have been convinced by The Doctor, as he was now standing up and preparing to jump across the cranes. As he was mid-jump, Tim Shaw caught up to him and grabbed him by his hi-vis jacket, lifting him up and back onto the other crane. Immediately, Asa transformed into a large Bengal tiger and stood by The Doctor’s side. 

The two of them proceeded to walk backwards, still both facing the other crane. Yaz shared a brief, worried glance with Tajas - there was no way they were going to do what Yaz thought they were going to do. She and Ryan stared in amazement and disbelief as the woman and her daemon proceeded to do exactly that. The two had a running start, before leaping up and across to the other crane.

“Oh my God.” She, Ryan, and their daemons exclaimed.

Asa, currently being a Bengal tiger, was able to make the leap with relative ease. The Doctor, on the other hand, was left dangling in the air, clinging to the crane. Yaz could barely breathe; she was so worried. Surprisingly, she was able to pull herself up and onto the crane without any help from Asa. Though, once she was up there Yaz saw the two of them share a look (and possibly some words) and Asa changed again, this time into a sandy looking dog. The two of them stood and faced the other alien, who proceeded to drop Karl and turn around to face them. The aliens were clearly talking, as Yaz could see The Doctor reach into her coat and pull something out. Tim Shaw proceeded to take a step towards her, which caused her to then hold the object out over the edge, making him stop. Yaz wished that she could hear what they were saying, as she saw Tim Shaw reach up to click something on his neck, which then caused him to writhe in pain. Then, the next thing she saw was Karl kicking the alien off of the crane, before it disappeared in a flash of light like before. However, Ryan and Juniper seemed to be looking down at the bottom of their crane, rather than at The Doctor. 

“Nan!” He called out, quickly dashing from the cabin and making their way down the crane. 

Yaz and Tajas hurried to follow after them, catching small glimpses of Grace lying on the floor at the bottom and the remains of the energy creature around her. Once at the bottom, they all dash over to Grace - just in time to see Quince disappear from the world in a cloud of golden dust. Graham is stroking his wife’s face in disbelief and Yaz can see Georgia whimpering next to him. Ryan and Juniper had knelt down next to Graham, the former of the two had hung his head while the latter tried to offer comfort. 

From the distance, Yaz heard the combination of footsteps and pawsteps, and looked up to see The Doctor running towards them. Graham looked up at her too, his eyes conveying all that was needed. The Doctor’s face became sorrow ridden and Asa pinned her ears back, tail drooping.

\----------

The funeral took place three days later, at the local church. Yaz had popped by everyday since that night, taking her time to talk to Ryan and Graham. The Doctor and Asa had been staying with them, as she told them that her home was her ship - and that she had no clue where it was. After the fiasco at the building site, Yaz and the others had quickly learnt that Asa had settled as a dingo - the animal she had first thought was a dog - on top of the crane. 

Asa was around the same height as Tajas, though she was longer than him. Her fur was mainly a pale sand colour, though her paws had white markings that reminded Yaz of socks, and her back was a slightly redder than the rest of her. 

As Yaz sat through the funeral service, she felt herself stroking Tajas’ fur absentmindedly, listening to Graham and Ryan’s words.

After the wake, the four of them gathered outside of Graham and Ryan’s house with cups of tea. 

“What did you mean in your speech, you thought you’d run out of time?” The Doctor asked Graham curiously.

“Uh, well, um… I had cancer. Well, strictly speaking, I’m still in remission. Three years gone. And, uh, Grace was my chemo nurse, and that's where we met and fell in love. So, by rights, I shouldn’t even be here.” Graham shifted uncomfortably, looking at Georgia. 

Yaz, sensing the sorrow tone and awkward tension, changed the subject. “Have you got family?” She asked The Doctor, who gave her a small smile before turning away to the distance.

“No… Lost them a long time ago.” The alien replied simply, Asa leaning back against her in support, her ears drooping.

“How do you cope with that?” Ryan asked, Juniper tilting her little head from where she was lounging on his shoulders.

“We carry them with us. What they would’ve thought, and said and done. Make them a part of who we are. So even though they’re gone from the world, they’re never gone from us.” She told them with a slight smile on her face, but a deeply sad look in her eyes.

“That’s the sort of thing Grace would have said.” Graham nodded at her, smiling.

“So everything we saw, everything we’ve lied to people about, is this normal for you?” Yaz asked, as they hadn’t really had the time to talk about that night’s events.

The Doctor seemed to take in her question for a moment before answering. “We’re just travellers. Sometimes we see things need fixing, we do what we can.” 

Her little sentiment made Yaz smile, and it also made Yaz realise that she definitely had a crush on this random alien woman.

“Except, right now, we’re travellers without a ship.” She looked down and exchanged a glance with Asa. “We’ve stayed too long. We should get back to finding our TARDIS.” With that, the two of them looked like they were about to take off - Yaz was not going to let that happen.

“Doctor!” Yaz called after her, grabbing her attention, “Can I just say - you really need to get out of those clothes.” Well, that came out a whole lot more gay than she was meaning it to.

The Doctor seemed to not take any notice of her weird phrasing, instead taking the time to look down at her clothing - which was half burnt and half torn to shreds. Asa huffed out a laugh. 

“Right, yeah. It’s been a long time since I bought women’s clothes.” The Doctor told them, seemingly confused at the prospect. 

However, Yaz was mainly focused on trying to figure out whatever the hell she meant about buying women’s clothes.

Still, she smiled at The Doctor. “It’s alright, we can help.” 

——————

The eight of them had then made their way into the town centre. Graham decided to go and find them some coffee, while Yaz and Ryan went with The Doctor to the local charity shop in search of clothes. 

Between them, The Doctor and Asa had managed to grab half of the items in the store to try on in the changing room. Yaz, Tajas, Ryan and Juniper all stood outside of the changing room - watching as clothes seemed to fling out from every direction. Tajas tilted his head, watching curiously and occasionally investigating the clothes that had been rejected, while Yaz held a small pile of clothes in her hands - they were for The Doctor in case she didn’t find anything.

Eventually, Yaz heard her gasp excitedly. “Yes! Now that’s what I want!” She then proceeded to fling open the changing room curtains in the most dramatic way possible, revealing her - rather strange, but also rather adorable - outfit. Asa was stood at her side, wagging her tail enthusiastically while looking at The Doctor.

“That’s what you’re going with?” Yaz asked her with a slightly bewildered smile. 

The outfit was definitely not something the average person would pick out - but then again, The Doctor was _not_ the average person.

“Yep! Got any cash? Empty pockets.” The Doctor asked, causing Yaz to look at Ryan, who proceeded to motion for her to pay. Tajas’ tail twitched, showing her annoyance at him. 

“Also, I’ve been thinking about my TARDIS, d’you think you guys might be able to help me?” She asked them with such an adorable look on her face that Yaz knew that she would only be able to answer ‘yes’ to that question.

\------------

Later that day, the eight of them found themselves back in Rahul’s warehouse, standing and holding random things for The Doctor while they watched her work. She was connecting completely random things together into a weird machine of sorts, Asa stood by her side, holding whatever The Doctor needed without having to be told.

“How long have we got to stand here for? I’m getting cramp.” Graham complained, Georgia letting out a little whine. 

“Seriously Graham, trying to concentrate here!” The Doctor replied, not bothering to look back at him.

“Do you understand what she’s doing?” Ryan asked the two humans, causing Graham to shake his head.

“My ship uses a particular type of energy. I’ve tracked that energy trail from the moment I lost it to where it is now. Now, given this is a transport pod, I’m configuring it to send me and Asa to the planet where my ship seems to have ended up.” The Doctor explained, all while jumping around fixing things together.

“You’re going to another planet?!” Yaz asked, excited at the thought. She noticed that Taj’s ears had perked up after hearing that.

“Well, trying to. Except Stenza technology’s really annoying and super hard to decipher.” She told them, before turning back to face them, “Hundred and thirty nine layers, seven of which don’t make sense. Right, Graham, clamp those onto there.” She handed two electrodes to Graham, which he struggled with.

“Alright.” 

“Yaz, thread the cable onto the top.” The Doctor pointed where she wanted her to thread the cable and Yaz obliged. “Ryan, you turn on the switch.”

“Yep.” Ryan reached down and picked it up.

“Okay, you three. I’m almost gonna miss ya.” The Doctor looked at them with a fondness in her eyes and Yaz grinned back at her. Suddenly, the iPad beeped, “that’s it. It’s connected up. It should work.” She told them, before quickly turning around to check something on the microwave. 

“Moment of truth, then. Wish us luck.” She pulled her sonic out of her pocket, “And goodbye.” Yaz gave a sad wave, not wanting to have to say goodbye just yet. “Deep breath.” The Doctor told them, Yaz took a deep breath in.

“Not you lot, us.” Asa told them with an amused huff. 

The Doctor then pointed her sonic screwdriver at the microwave and scrunched her eyes.

The next thing Yaz knew, was that she and Tajas were floating out in the vastness of space. Well, this was going to be an adventure - if she didn’t die before it started.

**Author's Note:**

> Well, I sincerely hope you enjoyed that monster of a one shot. I really love writing about these characters and their daemons so if there's anything specific you want me to write, feel free to let me know. 
> 
> As always, kudos and comments make my day & I really appreciate them :D


End file.
